This is a quickie for the web developer crowd. Yahoo has recently released a plugin for Firefox called YSlow. It can be used to diagnose problems that cause your website to preform slowly when compared to what they consider “high preforming” sites.

YSlow

YSlow requires Firebug, Firefox’s web development plugin. You can pick it up here. From their site, “Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.”

I haven’t played around with YSlow much, but it seems like a fantastic little plugin so far. Especially those who are trying to eek out the highest level of performance from aging equipment. If you are on the web development end of your newest project, it would be a crime not to give it a look.

Web 2.0 Roundup

Here are a few ways that you can make your site run at lightening speed, or at least not time out every ten requests.

• Make Fewer HTTP Requests. Use caching so that you’re only serving HTML.
• Use a Content Delivery Network. Like YouTube to serve video content.
• Add an Expires Header
• Gzip Components. Most blogging platforms have an option to enable GZip. This can really speed up your site.
• Put CSS at the Top
• Move Scripts to the Bottom
• Avoid CSS Expressions. Clean code makes faster sites, guaranteed.
• Avoid Redirects. Redirects are the potholes of the internet world
• Remove Duplicate Scripts. Take some time to audit your code, remove everything that is no longer being used

If you enjoyed that why not find a job or read our guide to working in the 21st century. You can also join our Kiva team or hire me for your project.